Buried

You tell someone you can’t remember what it feels like to not be stressed while reading an email from your client about all the things you have to accomplish, and you realize that statement is actually very true. As this is occurring, your head starts to feel like it’s in a compression machine, your chest tightens and you struggle to breathe, and the world feels like it’s closing in on you. You’re having an anxiety attack.

That was my Monday. And Tuesday and Wednesday. This week, I felt buried by the thoughts of all the things I have to accomplish before Thanksgiving. From trying to get a photo contest off the ground, to infiltrating a school system with an art project idea, to researching businesses’ capabilities of hosting a MyMuncie day, to beginning a communications and brand audit, I was feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work I had to get done.

When there’s an entire melting pot of work sitting in front of you, it’s hard to split it into a mosaic in your mind.

Here’s what I’m doing:

• Breathe. Take a step back, clear your head and breathe deeply. Concentrate on something non-work related for a couple minutes.
• Make a to-do list. Write down everything that has to get done on a sheet of paper, then start splitting it up into manageable portions. It will calm you down and make huge projects seem smaller.
• Remember you have a team. I’m very lucky with this one. I have a team of very capable and hardworking women who are able to help me take on all this work. Divvy up assignments so it’s less daunting for everyone and trust that it will get done.
• Did I mention breathe? Seriously, do it.

It’s not easy being a full-time student and a half-time professional. It’s not easy to have deadlines rushing at you. It’s not easy to get over the hump of work. But you can do it. Just because you feel buried doesn’t mean you actually are. Look past all the work and seek the end result. It’s there. You just have to dig yourself out to find it.